Disclaimer: I don't own Elder Scrolls and Gladiator. They belong to their respective owners.

A/N: Sorry, for the long delay. I got busy with work so many times and I just started to play Fallout: New Vegas, so my mind has been diverted. But anyway, this is the new chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 11: Green Emperor Way

The investigation continued after Cicero and Juba acquired three out of four books belonged to Mythic Dawn. The secret message was almost complete, but they needed one final clue before they could get the Amulet of Kings back from their hand. Soon after getting their business done in Market District, they opened the letter given by Gwinas. Cicero read out the letter:

Gwinas,

Your interest in the writings of the Master has been noted. You are taking the first steps towards true enlightenment. Persevere, and you may yet join the exalted ranks of the Chosen.

If you wish to continue further down the Path of Dawn, you will need the fourth volume of the Master's "Commentaries on the Mysterium Xarxes." It can be obtained only from a member of the Order of the Mythic Dawn. As your designated Sponsor, I will pass on my copy to you if I deem you worthy.

Study the first three volumes of the Master's writings. Look for the hidden meaning in his words, as best as you are able.

When you are ready, come to the Sunken Sewers under the Elven Gardens in the Imperial City. Come alone. Follow the main tunnel until you reach the room with the table and chair. Sit down. I will meet you there and give you what you desire.

The Sponsor

Cicero folded back the letter, "It looks like this is some sort of initiation process. Whoever possess all the books must be trying to be accepted as one of them."

Juba crossed his arms in front of his chest, "If that's the case, then one of us should pose as one of the candidates. Great. Now we will become spies."

"It's alright." Baurus cut him. "As Blades, we must do anything to ensure the safety of Tamriel and the Emperor. Now, I believe we have work to do, shall we, gentlemen?"

The minute they exited the boarding house, they went to Elven Garden District, then Baurus led them to an alley and revealed a sinkhole.

"Are we really going to do this? I mean, as they said in the letter, it's sewer. There will be human excrement, rats, and Divines know whatever inside." Cicero complained as he smelled the pungent aroma when Baurus opened the lid.

Juba then slapped his shoulder lightly, "What did those mages do to you, Cicero? Are you going soft after all these years in the University? Do I need to remind you what you did for Maximus back then, getting intelligent from unimaginable places?"

"No, it's just, well, I haven't done in a long time, you understand. I just need some time." He said as he steeled his guts.

Baurus started to descent the he stopped and looked up to the new Blades, "You already got your time, kid. Now, if you two are done kissing each other, I suggest we're going down now."

They kept moving in the darkness of the sewer system, encountering rats every now and then, which was not much a problem, really. With the three of them, those animals were nothing but a nuisance. Juba moved forward to Baurus, "Hey, Baurus, you seem to know a lot about the sewer here. Care to explain?"

Baurus stopped his step, then faced Juba and Cicero, "Let me tell you one thing about the Blades, we act in a secretive way to protect the Emperor, we can't risk too many eyes and ears to catch our plans, even the Imperial guards. That's why we use these sewers to move." Then he continued walking leaving the two to absorb the information.

"That explains a lot," said Cicero before joining the party again.

Finally, they came to a stop when Baurus saw the room indicated in the letter. He saw it through the grate in the wall facing the room.

"There you go, it must be the place. I always wonder who put the chair in there."

Juba looked at the room, there was indeed a chair and a table. There was no doubt they were brought here with a purpose. Who else would go through trouble bringing a chair and table in a tight space with the giant rats to fight?

"So what's the plan here? The letter said the sponsor will meet us here, right?" Cicero broke the silence.

Baurus stood up after crouching to inspect the surrounding, "Alright, listen up. I'll go there and meet the sponsor. You two stay here and back me up, just in case. This spot should give you a good vantage point."

Shaking his head, Cicero shot at him, "No way. It's a suicide. They will know you, for sure."

"What do you mean?" Baurus asked him.

"One of their member was given a task to follow you, remember the boarding house? Now that he's gone, they must suspect something. They will recognize your face, Baurus." He finished with a sigh.

Juba nodded in approval, "Actually that make sense. I'll go then, they don't know me. The agent didn't have time to report me when we killed him."

"Okay, be careful, Juba. Just act natural, make them think you came to join them. And don't tell them more than you have to." Baurus put his hand on his shoulder to give him assurance.

"You don't have to tell, me, friend. Just watch my back, okay?"

He went inside the room, sat down on the chair and the waiting game began. Cicero draw his arrow, since the use of magic will alert the Mythic Dawn sponsor immediately. Meanwhile, Baurus readied his Blade sword, ready to bring down anyone who saw them from the lookout.

After not too long, footsteps were heard and three Mythic Dawn members came to the room, dressed in red robes with the symbol of sunrise from the horizon. They stood in front of Juba who was sitting on the chair, one right in front of him, one on his left, and one on his right. The one the center, an Altmer, walked slowly towards him.

"Welcome, Initiate. You have come to this place to receive our blessing. I believe you wish to join the Master as his disciple, yes?"

"Yes, I do."

"Good. Then let's…" His words stopped at the tip of his tongue. His eyes scanned the Redguard carefully, like they're undressing him. Then his eyes were lit, his mind was cleared.

Juba tried to asked him what was going on in an innocent manner, but the Altmer knew there was something wrong with this man.

"You… You are the one from the priory, aren't you? You defend the damn priest, you dirty spy!" He raised his arm and summoned his armor and weapon. He slammed the table, and it broke into two.

Baurus gritted his teeth when he saw all hell broke loose. "So much for the plan!" Then he ran down to the room to join the fight. But Cicero decided to stay where he was and just sent arrows after arrows to the other agents to provide support.

Meanwhile, Juba was busy defending his life by parrying the Altmer blows with his shortsword that he concealed beneath his shirt. The Altmer smiled at him, "You think you are so clever, huh? After I finish with you, I will come for the priest and destroy him!"

"You may try, but my friends will stop you and your Master, you filth!" Juba spat at him. They exchanged strikes once again, while Baurus finishing off one of the agent by stabbing him with his sword to his chest. Cicero finally joined the fray and throwing firebolt to his opponent who used lighting spell. He blocked it with his ward, then he charged forward and pulling a dagger, his ward was still on. The gap between the two was finally gone when the mage scratch his foe's hand with the dagger. The Mythic Dawn agent was holding his hand in pain. Cicero didn't waste his chance, he turned off the ward and switched it with fire spell, burning the target.

The death of his comrades didn't go unnoticed by the Altmer. He turned to look at Baurus and Cicero who stood defiantly. Finally, he felt fear for the first time since he came to the room. He continued fighting Juba, but his attack became sloppy. His sword only slashed the air, so Juba thought to finish the fight. He punched him to make him staggered, the send his sword to his belly, ending his life.

"Oh well, that's three more who won't be reporting back to their Master." Baurus called from across the room.

"These guys were not amateurs, their technique was pretty solid. Whoever they are, they mean business." Juba exclaimed.

Cicero said nothing, but he crouched down to search the three agents. From the ones he and Baurus killed, he found nothing but a few septims, but from the Sponsor, he finally hit the jackpot, the fourth volume of the Commentary series.

"Nice job, Cicero. I knew I could count on you." Juba gave him appreciation. The he direct his attention to Baurus, "What's your call, Baurus? What should we do with their bodies?"

Baurus thought for a second, then he grabbed one of the agents by his hand, "Bring them to the drain. Let the rats took our job. Come on, let's get outside."

Back to the boarding house, Cicero soon started to arranged the books together, now that they were all complete. Using the previous note, he wrote down the clue from the last book.

"So what does it tell us? Does it say where they keep the amulet?" asked Baurus with much concern. If there was anything he wanted at the moment, it was to crown Martin immediately and end this crisis.

"Apparently, the clue tells us about a place, it says: Green Emperor Way Where Tower Touches Midday Sun." He showed the note to the two Redguards.

Juba looked at it, then turned to Baurus, "We must go there, whatever we're going to find there must be useful. They won't give this clue to the new candidates for nothing."

"I agree," Baurus said, than he walked to the door and wore his Blade armor, "I know Green Emperor Way. It's at the central district of Imperial City, you can't miss it. Come one, waste no time."

They walked out of the boarding house, then to the gate that stood between Eleven Garden District and Green Emperor Way. The guard opened the gate for them upon seeing a Blade walking to him, and when they entered the district, a fresh aroma of grass welcomed them. Everywhere they looked, there were many graves and mausoleums standing on the outer ring. In the center, they could see the White-Gold Tower, the tallest structure in Cyrodiil. Cicero and Juba looked up to the peak with the amazement. For Juba, it was because he'd never seen the tower that close before. In his career as Fighters Guild warrior, he could only see it from afar in the forest. But for Cicero, it was'nt the first time he came to the district. He visited it many times, and many times he wondered how the Aldmer, built the tower in the first place during the Merethic Era. He read the story about how Ayleid, the Wild Elves, occupied Cyrodiil during the First Era, but the humans supplanted them in a rebellion, which led by the legendary figure, Pelinal Whitestrake.

"We're here now. What are we looking for?" Baurus asked Cicero, the smartest person in the group.

"I don't rightly know. It only says we must go here at midday. What time is it?" Cicero asked him.

Juba looked at the sun above them, "It's almost noon. Something's gonna happen, then."

"Alright, everyone, spread out. Search these tombs, look for any detail, report to me no matter how seemingly insignificant that is." Baurus commanded them. Then they began to sweep the area, looking for anything unusual. For almost an hour, they searched, and found nothing.

"Are you sure this is the right place? I'm beginning to think there's nothing here, and they just try to stall us." Baurus murmured to Juba and Cicero.

Juba who had been sitting down on the grass looked at Cicero, "Can you read again the books, maybe you are missing something."

Cicero then pulled out one of the books from his bag, flipping the pages and scanning the sentences for answer, but he didn't get a chance to give Juba a response, because Juba saw something from the corner of his eyes, so he got up and walked to the object. It was a tomb.

"Everyone, over here! I think I found it!" He hollered from across the cemetery. Baurus and Cicero ran to him and found out what he just discovered. The relief on the surface of the tomb became lit with red color and it showed them a map of Cyrodiil. On the map, there's a big star on the right side.

"What does it mean, Cicero? Can you read it?" Baurus asked him.

"I think they want us, I mean the new member, to go to wherever that is." He pointed at the star.

"Maybe it's their sanctuary, it's near Lake Arius in Cheydinhal county." Juba added.

"You know the place?" Baurus asked him.

"Yes, I visited the lake once. I think I can find it again."

"Good work, everyone. I'm sure you know what to do." He spoke to Juba, then he addressed both of them, "I must go to Cloud Ruler Temple. My place is at Martin's side. Are you coming with me, Cicero?"

The Imperial stood silently for a few seconds before answering, "I think so. But I must stop by the University first, though. Tar-Meena wanted me to deliver these books for her collection. Can you deal with it by yourself, Juba?"

The Redguard smiled while grabbing him, "Don't worry about me. You've done your part, now it's my turn to do mine. I'll try my best to come back with the amulet, alive of course."

After sharing a laugh together, they moved out of the central district, then off to their respective target. Cicero headed back to Arcane University and gave Tar-Meena the third and fourth volume of Mythic Dawn Commentaries, which she received with glee as if they were the biggest treasures in Tamriel. Baurus took a hike to the north where he would meet the future emperor for the first time, and he made a promise to himself that he would never fail again with this second chance. He swore that whatever happen, Martin would sit on Uriel Septim's throne and rule Tamriel for many years. While Juba started a long walk to Cheydinhal, imagining what he would encounter once he arrived. One thing he knew, there would be a lot of fighting and blood ahead.

That's a wrap for Path of Dawn quest. Next, we will enter Mythic Dawn lair and meet the most important book in this crisis. Hahaha! Until then, so long, guys!